Where to watch

A Separation

Synopsis

Ugly truth, sweet lies.

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

Genre

A few years ago I was talking to a friend who had just seen David Gordon Green's "All the Real Girls." My friend isn't much of a film buff, but he knew that he'd seen something special. When I asked what he liked most about it, he didn't say anything about the acting or the direction or nuances of the plot. Instead, he simply said "because that stuff really happened."

Of course, my friend was not speaking literally. Instead, I think he was trying to talk about a feeling that the movie captured that transcends what we generally consider realism. It struck a nerve with him because it resonated in a deeper way than he could have ever expected. It…

It is easy to see why A Separation was one of the most highly regarded films of last year. It is a complex (but not complicated) story with so many grey areas that it becomes hard to really apportion blame in an ever escalating court battle between a man and his pregnant employee who accuses him of causing her miscarriage. A Separation is such a rich film and it is rare these days to see this kind of story with characters that are never wholly good or bad. It is one of the films strongest attributes that you sympathise with every single character in the film despite the fact they have all lied in some small, or big, way.

From the acclaimed writer-director of About Elly & Fireworks Wednesday, A Separation is Asghar Farhadi’s finest offering to world cinema that not only works as his best film to date but with this masterpiece, he may have very well crafted his magnum opus. Simplest in approach, minimalist in presentation, economic in creation & artistically subtle, A Separation is one of the perfectly flawless films of 21st century cinema and arguably the finest that Cinema of Iran has offered us so far. It’s a riveting, suspenseful drama that is highly gripping & involving, tough to let go, morally & emotionally draining but in the end, is absolutely worth your time & money.

A Separation tells the story of an Iranian middle-class family. Nader & Simin are separating…

So badly wanted to rate it 10/10 but the last 20 mins are not as perfect as the rest of the film. Farhadi pulls a great trick where he hides (SO MANY) invisible set ups early on that pays off hugely as it progresses. But he does that one more time which crosses the limit and it feels excessive, where you can't not think that the film was always dependent on that trick. Nothing wrong with knowing that but I wish he didn't do it on that one fateful instance.

That said, this is a masterclass on how to make characters the audience feels for. It's also amazing how he keeps everything in the grey and presents morally supportable arguments from both sides. Also, a great portrayal of raw realism!

potentially the most masterfully written unraveling of a tense situation i have seen. you can really see the nuances in each character's disposition boiling, which makes it so satisfying when they explode.

a gripping plot centered around nothing but arguing is hard to pull off. this is the epitome of how it can look when it works.

i guess the Iranian legal system is a breeding ground for incredible conflict (see Close-Up). as an outsider, this movie speaks volumes about the culture and environment of Iran without wasting a second explaining it.